Tepebaşı on the Banks of the Porsuk, from the Aviation Park to the Archaeology Museum

When you get off at the Hava Müzesi stop of the tram, the entrance of the park is right in front of you, so you start the day without any walking. The park stands beside the old highway between Ankara and Istanbul, directly opposite the Yunusemre Campus of Anadolu University. First enter through the gate and take a short tour to see the open-air exhibition area as a whole. The area covers about 39 thousand square metres, and because the aircraft are set out at wide intervals you can walk comfortably around each one. Civilian and military aircraft stand side by side in the open area; the Turkish Wikipedia also notes that a police helicopter is on display. Most of the aircraft are machines that once left service with the air units in Eskişehir and were restored and brought here. According to the English Wikipedia, the Governorship of Eskişehir and the air command stationed in the city came together for the founding, and eleven retired fighter, reconnaissance and cargo aircraft were donated. The opening date is given differently in the sources, between 1997 and 1998; it is enough to say that the open-air display began in the late nineties. One of the notable aircraft on display is a C-47 cargo plane; its fuselage was used as a cafeteria for years and was later turned into an office. Walking under the wings and looking closely at the rivets of the fuselage, the landing gear and the cockpit windows is the real pleasure of this stop. After walking around the open area, move on to the indoor section. Here flight suits, badges, model aircraft and aircraft engines are on display. Looking at the cutaway of the engines is the easiest way to understand what works inside the fuselages you saw outside. In 2020 the park was named, through a public survey, after Vecihi Hürkuş, the pioneer of Turkish aviation. Hürkuş was the pilot and engineer who built the Vecihi K-VI, regarded as the first aircraft of Turkey, and who founded the first civilian flying school in the country. The connection between Eskişehir and aviation is not new; the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam notes that aircraft repair workshops were set up in the city in the early years of the Republic. The best angle for photographs is a low stance that catches the aircraft diagonally along the fuselage; the trees in the background do not fill too much of the sky. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism states that photography is permitted in the park. Shade is limited, so in summer it is wise to come early in the morning and to carry water. The park is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays; check the hours for the other days on the official page. Since the institution that runs the park has changed over the years, confirm the visiting conditions before you go. On leaving, take the tram again a few stops towards the city centre and get off at the Ulus Anıtı (Gar) stop.

Source: Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Vecihi Hürkuş Havacılık Parkı; Wikipedia, Vecihi Hürkuş Havacılık Parkı; Wikipedia, Vecihi Hürkuş Aviation Park.

From the Ulus Anıtı (Gar) stop you walk to the Haller Youth Centre in a few minutes; for those who arrive by YHT and join the route here, the station is also just to the west. The building is in Tepebaşı, in the Eskibağlar neighbourhood, on Üniversite Caddesi. Before going inside, take a look at the building from the opposite pavement, because this is above all a piece of industrial heritage. The structure is the old Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market Hall of the city, and according to the Turkish Wikipedia its demolition was even considered during the years it stood unused. In 2000 it was restored without departing from its original form and turned into a centre for culture and the arts. Wood, wrought iron and natural stone are what catch the eye most, both on the facade and inside. The same source writes that the restoration was inspired by Covent Garden in London and the flower market hall in Hamburg. Walk inside with this comparison in mind; the small units set within a wide, light-filled market hall recall those examples. The ministry's promotional website compares the place to an urban arcade whose rhythm changes through the day. The corridors are quiet in the morning and fill with students in the afternoon. Inside the building there are small shops selling souvenirs, an exhibition hall and a bookshop. The ministry's promotional text stresses that the building carries the lively youth culture of the city while the memory of its architectural shell is preserved. The heart of the centre is the Tepebaşı Stage of the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres. According to the list of stages of the City Theatres, this stage opened on 27 March 2001 and has two hundred and two seats. If you would like to see a play in the evening, check the programme on their website in advance; it is not hard to come back here at the end of the route. Take a short break to see what is on in the exhibition hall that day. In the list of stages the hall appears as the Haller Gençlik Merkezi Tepebaşı Sahnesi, so use this name when looking for tickets. For photographs, shooting the line of the eaves and the row of windows from the street side, slightly at an angle, gives the best result. Inside, the wooden ceiling and the wrought iron details look good in a frame that looks upwards. It is possible to stop for coffee here, but we suggest saving your long rest for the bank of the Porsuk. The role of Haller on this route is that of a bridge: it shows the passage from an old trading building of the industrial city to a meeting place of the student city. On leaving, walk south-east towards the İsmet İnönü stop; within a few minutes you come down to the bank of the Porsuk.

Source: Wikipedia, Haller Gençlik Merkezi; Eskişehir Şehir Tiyatroları, Sahneler; GoTürkiye, Eskişehir.

When you reach the Porsuk, first stop on the bank and look at the direction of the water; the river flows from west to east and divides the city in two. As the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism describes it, Tepebaşı lies to the north and Odunpazarı to the south; the bank you have just come from is Tepebaşı. The ancient name of the Porsuk is Tembris, and with a length of 448 kilometres it is the longest tributary of the Sakarya. Before entering the city it collects behind the Porsuk Dam to the south-west, which is why it flows calmly and under control within the city. Do not hurry at this stop; the aim is to walk along the bank, cross the bridges to the other side and come back, and see the two halves of the city together. First walk downstream towards Adalar. The name Adalar is given to the area between Şair Fuzuli Caddesi, Atatürk Caddesi and the Porsuk. According to the directorate, this area was once called Yalaman Adası because it belonged to a well-known family of the city, and the name Adalar took hold as the riverside turned into a promenade. The same source relates that there were open-air summer cinemas here in the 1960s and fun fairs in the 1980s, and that at the end of the eighties the area turned into a place for strolling. As you walk, notice the lamps along the bank, the flower beds and the seating right beside the water. Choose a bridge, stop in the middle and look both ways; this is the best place to see how narrow and how tame the river is within the city. The Porsuk did not reach this state by itself. The directorate writes that boat trips once disappeared from the river, which had been polluted by the dyes of a textile factory and by the city's waste water. After the waste water infrastructure was resolved and the river was rehabilitated, this tradition revived; the Turkish Wikipedia notes that the cleaning was completed in the 2000s. When you cross to the other bank, head for Köprübaşı. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam writes that multi-storey office blocks gathered to the north of the river and the traditional bazaar to the south, and that Köprübaşı was a place of transition between these two parts. The gondolas and boats depart from Köprübaşı; you do not have to board, but looking at the water from the landing is part of this stop. The encyclopedia also records that in March 1950 a flood lasting twenty-four hours left the central and northern neighbourhoods of the city under the waters of the Porsuk. Looking at today's calm riverside with this knowledge explains why the rehabilitation work matters. This is the best place for lunch and a long sit-down break; the crowd on the bank grows towards evening. For photographs, the afternoon light throws the shadows of the bridges onto the water and sharpens the line of the bank. Bicycle and pedestrian traffic on the bank can be heavy, so if you come with children, take care at the water's edge. When you are ready, walk south from the Odunpazarı bank towards Atatürk Bulvarı.

Source: Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Adalar ve Porsuk Nehri; TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Eskişehir; Wikipedia, Porsuk Çayı.

At the end of a walk of a little over a kilometre south from Adalar you reach the museum on Atatürk Bulvarı in the Akarbaşı neighbourhood; for those who would rather come by tram, the nearest stop is Şehitlik. The official name of the museum is the Eskişehir ETİ Archaeology Museum, and the Kültür Portalı presents it as the first museum in Turkey realised with private-sector sponsorship. Before going inside, walk around the garden, because some of the immovable works are displayed in the open. The history of the museum is older than its building: the collection began in 1945 as a storage museum, moved in 1966 to the Kurşunlu Complex in Odunpazarı and in 1974 to its own building on Atatürk Bulvarı. When the old building became inadequate it was closed in 2001, and the new building was completed and opened in 2011. According to the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the building consists of three blocks, and the works are arranged in chronological order in the exhibition halls on the first floor of two of them. The building, set on a plot of about 1,300 square metres, has a usable floor area of some four thousand square metres. As the directorate describes it, the ground floor of one block is given over to a semi-open display and temporary exhibitions, while that of another serves events such as conferences. Follow this order; you begin with the Neolithic and move on through the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. According to the figure given by the directorate, the inventory holds more than twenty thousand works, of which about two thousand are on display. For this reason a good method is to concentrate on the excavation sites of Eskişehir itself rather than stopping at every display case. Look closely at the finds from Pessinus and Han in particular, because if you plan to visit these places in the countryside of the province, what you see in the museum prepares you for that trip. The finds from Dorylaion, that is Şarhöyük, Pessinus in Sivrihisar, the Han Underground City, Keçiçayırı, the Old Hittite necropolis at Çavlum, Demircihöyük, Karacahisar and Küllüoba stand out in the display. Take particular note of Dorylaion; the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam writes that the name Eskişehir may relate to the proximity of the ruins of this ancient settlement. The exhibition includes marble sculptures and figurines, architectural fragments, stelae, terracotta vessels, idols, glass vessels and beads, metal vessels, weapons, jewellery and coins. The work the Kültür Portalı singles out is a stamp seal made of meerschaum found in the cemetery excavations at Çavlum. This seal is presented as the oldest example of a meerschaum work found in Anatolia; connecting to the present-day craft of the city through this small object is a fine way to end the route. GoTürkiye notes that the museum has interactive applications; the Turkish Wikipedia writes that its digital display techniques were developed by METU with the support of TÜBİTAK. If an exhibition is open at that time in the temporary exhibition hall on the ground floor, have a look at it too. An hour is a good length of time for visiting the museum, but do not hurry through the Phrygian and Roman halls. Since admission is charged, check the current fee and opening hours on the ministry's museum page. After the museum you can turn back north and spend the evening on the bank of the Porsuk, or take the tram to the station.

Source: Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, ETİ Arkeoloji Müzesi; Kültür Portalı, Eskişehir Eti Arkeoloji Müzesi; Wikipedia, Eskişehir Arkeoloji Müzesi.